Shloka 98
Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)
एष तेषां विशुद्धानां फेनपानां तपोधने । धर्मचर्याकृतो मार्गो बालखिल्यगणै: शृणु
eṣa teṣāṃ viśuddhānāṃ phenapānāṃ tapodhane | dharmacaryākṛto mārgo bālakhilyagaṇaiḥ śṛṇu, tapodhane ||
“O kayamanan ng pag-aayuno at pagninilay, ito ang landas ng matuwid na asal na itinakda para sa mga dalisay na pantas na tinatawag na Phenapāna. Ngayon, O mayamang-asceta, pakinggan mo ang landas ng dharma na itinuro ng pangkat ng mga rishi na tinatawag na Bālakhilya.”
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is presented as a disciplined ‘path’ (mārga) grounded in purified conduct (dharma-caryā). The verse frames ethical life as something established and transmitted by exemplary ascetic lineages—first the Phenapānas, then the Bālakhilyas—implying that righteous practice is learned through authoritative tradition and lived austerity.
Maheśvara addresses an ascetic (called ‘tapodhane’) and transitions from one authoritative model of dharma (the purified Phenapāna sages) to another (the Bālakhilya sages). It functions as a connective verse: having indicated one established path, the speaker now invites the listener to hear the next teaching ascribed to the Bālakhilya group.